Even as organizations diversify their UCaaS tools across multiple vendors, Microsoft Teams remains on top as the bread and butter for their technology stack.
So when customers approach their solution providers, whether they be an interconnect, MSP, VAR, traditional on-prem PBX, or a different kind of seller that helps them to manage their technology investments and infrastructure, there is a more than reasonable expectation that a fully functional Microsoft Teams will be part of their offering.
The challenge, though, is that not every reseller can provide the full Microsoft Teams offering on their own, especially when it comes to the voice component. Making the backend management with Microsoft seamless for the customer, and billing mechanisms that account for taxes, country telecom compliance, and additional costs.
In response to the growing need for tackling these challenges, UCaaS voice leader CallTower launched a new rebiller program on June 1, 2024 aimed at making it easier for resellers to provide a comprehensive Microsoft Teams offering as part of their service package to their customers.
”Our goal with the rebiller program is to make it even easier for our partners to sell voice for Microsoft Teams, saving them the heavy lifting when it comes to getting contracts approved with Microsoft,” says CallTower’s Chief Revenue Officer William Rubio in a conversation with UC Today.
“This will allow them to leverage CallTower’s Microsoft’s Solution Partner Designation partnership with Microsoft and simplify the management via our Operator Connect portal. Partnering with CallTower will save them critical time both on the technical side as well as on setting up complex contracts with Microsoft and the local carriers.”
Strengthening Customer Relationships for Vendors
In speaking with Rubio, he explains that this program gives resellers the opportunity to strengthen their relationship with their customers as their one-stop-shop for technology.
This is because vendors can white label CallTower’s voice services into their offering to provide the full native Microsoft Teams package that their customers require and expect from their technology vendors. “It saves end users from looking elsewhere for solutions and keeps the reseller as the primary contact for their customers who do not need to look elsewhere to round out their UCaaS stack,” he says.
“Our partners are able to enjoy additional revenue streams without having to expend resources on their backend.”
One considerable headache that the rebiller program handles is in provisioning the vendors’ customers.
“Our rebiller partners will be able to provision their customers through CallTower’s automated provisioning portal as it connects to the customers Office 365 Portal,” says Rubio, explaining that “This self-service portal will enable rebiller partners and their customers to activate voice services on Microsoft Teams within minutes in Operator Connect with CallTower without the hassle, streamlining the customer admin, MSP or VAR experience.”
Billing Simplified
Beyond the technical component that CallTower handles for their partners, Rubio says that CallTower simplifies the billing process that can be an unforeseen challenge for resellers.
“Many of the MSPs, VARs, and others that we speak to have systems in place for handling the basics like sales tax, but they lack the infrastructure for trickier elements like state and federal taxes and country regulatory rules and restrictions,” he says, explaining how CallTower fills in the missing business gap that allows partners to simply grow their revenues.
Tips for Vendors Adding Voice for Microsoft Teams
For vendors looking to include voice for Teams in their offering by partnering with a UCaaS provider like CallTower, it is important to make sure that they are providing native Teams and not direct routing or using middleware.
“Do your due diligence,” says Rubio.
“We see a lot of providers out there who say that they’re direct or native but then don’t have the support and the automations that we do.”
The biggest issues come when dealing with managing support or configurations because other providers do not have a direct relationship with Microsoft or portal for fast and easy fixes. In those cases, end users have to navigate through middleware that can slow them down and cause complications.
“Our MSP partners want to avoid the work of adding voice for their customers and then realizing that it isn’t the smooth experience or execution that they expected,” says Rubio, adding that, “You need to make sure that you’re getting the right answers and really getting educated on the different methods of delivery.”
CallTower rolled out the rebiller program on June 1, 2024.
